Love Me to Death (Underveil)

by Marissa Clarke

  And as far as the “fuck her” part went, it might be worth it to get free of him, but there was no way in hell she’d let him take advantage of her again. She’d been so stupid. She’d actually become fond of him. Shit, she was falling in love with him. Thank God she saw his true colors before it was too late. Still, it would be nice to be free of the cord. Was she willing to go there? To let him touch her again? No. Her heart wouldn’t take it. There had to be another way.

  But Aleksandra had told him to get rid of her. That made no sense. If she was useful somehow, why get rid of her? Why dump her in a safe house with vampires or the Time Folder?

  Her hands stung and the tips of her fingers were numb even though they were under his T-shirt. He must be half-frozen because he didn’t have a body blocking the wind for him like she did. Still, he raced along toward who knew where. Her teeth clacked together as he steered the snowmobile over a rough patch and up an embankment. Snow fell silently around them, and below, a smattering of tents and carts littered the clear space inside of a ring of trees. A fire burned in the center.

  “Perfect,” Nikolai said, steering the snowmobile toward the camp. This time, he didn’t race, though; he slowly chugged down the hill. As they got closer, men emerged from tents and carts, armed with rifles. He stopped the snowmobile in the center of the camp and remained perfectly still on the seat. “Do not look at any of them in the eye,” he whispered. “Stay quiet and keep your head down. They must think I am human and we are lovers.”

  “Fat chance on both counts,” she whispered back. His rib cage expanded with a deep breath under her freezing cold hands. The men closing in seemed to be human. Maybe they could help her escape.

  One of the men shouted to them in a foreign language. Nikolai got off the snowmobile and answered as he helped Elena off. There was more conversation, which seemed pretty tense, and then one of the men shook Nikolai’s hand. Two others pushed the snowmobile under the trees.

  The snow had picked up, and she could barely see the ring of tents circling the fire, which had died down significantly in the last couple of minutes.

  “Fate is on our side at last,” he said quietly. “The snow will cover our tracks.”

  Her teeth chattered. Nikolai looked her up and down. His gaze stuck at her feet—or where her legs disappeared into the snow. “You wear only socks.”

  She nodded.

  He said something to one of the men and then picked her up in his arms. She started to struggle to get down, but he clamped his arms tight like vises, reminding her how inhumanly strong he was and how completely human she was—and completely at his mercy, which was not what she wanted at all. She gave another twist, and his grip tightened even more.

  “Stick with the plan. Appearances matter right now.”

  She stilled. The man struck out, and they followed him to a tattered covered wagon. The man shouted something, and an old woman stuck her head out from the canvas at the back. She cocked her head and stared at Nikolai and Elena, then pulled the flap open and gestured for them to enter.

  He lifted her into the back of the cart, which was carpeted with blankets and animal skins, then climbed in. He nodded to the woman, who had backed up to the other side of the space near the small oil lamp hanging from one of the arched ribs holding the canvas in place.

  Nikolai wordlessly ripped Elena’s socks and wet pants off. When she opened her mouth to protest, he pinned her with a glare so menacing she snapped her lips closed and yanked a blanket over her legs. In all sincerity, she felt much better out of the wet clothes, but it would have been nice if he hadn’t manhandled her in the process. Part of the show, she assumed.

  The woman took the wet clothes and hung the over a line at the front of the wagon, then stared at the cord binding them. She studied Elena’s face, then Nikolai’s, and then she spoke. Her voice was raspy and weak, but Nikolai didn’t seem to have any trouble understanding her. He responded several times and even smiled once.

  This freaking cluelessness was driving Elena insane. She had no idea where she was, why she was there, or what they were saying.

  He took his sword off and laid it down against the wooden side of the wagon. The woman’s gaze followed it and stayed on the jeweled hilt.

  “She’s going to kill you in your sleep for it,” Elena said. “You spoke of lust to me once. That’s it.”

  “It’s why I’m not sleeping,” he said, stretching out near his sword. “Please join me.”

  “Go to hell.” She adjusted the blanket around her legs, suddenly feeling a little bare without her flannel pajama pants.

  His eyes narrowed. “If you do not do as I ask, you are jeopardizing your safety. I made a bargain out there, and if you continue this, they will change their minds. Get over here and lie next to me now so that I can warm you up, or I will come and get you.”

  The old woman was watching them intently with her black eyes. There was more going on here than his wanting to conserve warmth.

  “What bargain did you make?”

  “I asked for their hospitality, and they wanted something in return. They wanted you. I told them we had run away together and that your father searches for us. I told them you belong to me, but that they could have the snowmobile.”

  “I don’t belong to you.”

  He sat up, and before she could react, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into his lap. She gasped and grabbed the blanket, covering her bare half below the parka.

  “Well, you’d better make it look like you do unless you want them to ride you rather than the snowmobile.”

  Asshole. She slid off his lap, keeping her back to the woman, who watched them with open fascination. Elena used a tone that, if you did not speak the language, sounded like she was flirting with him. “What am I expected to do to make it look like I belong to you?”

  “Act like you don’t hate me.”

  She rolled her eyes but maintained the sweetness in her voice. “I do hate you.”

  “Act like you want me.”

  “I don’t.”

  He leaned very close. So close his nose touched her ear. “Act like you did when my tongue was inside you.”

  She didn’t move as she replaced the unwanted jolt of excitement with anger so deep it limited her breath. It took everything in her to maintain her flirtatious tone rather than the threatening one she wanted to use. “It’s a good thing you’re not going to sleep, because I’d use that sword of yours to cut your tongue out.”

  He leaned back and an eyebrow shot up. “You make me hard.”

  “You make me sick.”

  “I want you so bad, Elena.”

  “Only because it serves your purpose.”

  His intensity and sincerity startled her. “You have jumped to an erroneous conclusion based on someone else’s words. What you heard does not express my thoughts or feelings. Not at all.”

  Feelings? What feelings? He didn’t have any. He said so himself. He felt desire. He had told her that love was a myth fabricated by humans to justify lust. Well, she had plenty of that. As mad as she was, her body still screamed for him. Well, it could scream until it was hoarse. She would never capitulate. If she had to go along with his charade, so be it, but it was only a show.

  “Don’t fight me,” he warned, leaning toward her. “She’s watching. They are all waiting for her report.”

  Surely, he was joking. But when his gaze shot to the woman behind her, then back to her face, she knew he wasn’t.

  “I’m going to kiss you, and you’re going to act like you like it.” He moved closer, as if testing her. “In fact, you are going to like it, because no matter how mad you are, your body knows and wants me.”

  His lips touched hers, but the contact was as light as the flutter of a butterfly’s wing.

  She drew back to speak. “You can talk all you want, Nikolai, but neither my body nor my mind is listening. That ship sailed and it left without you. The minute this cord is gone, so am I.”

  Nikolai knew
she was dead serious. She would leave the minute the cord no longer bound them. Well, as much as it pained him, perhaps he should see to it that the cord stayed in place a while longer. At least until he could win her over. Because no matter how fucked up it was, fate had put them together, and despite the misgivings and obstacles, he planned to keep her.

  He leaned in to kiss her again, and she pressed her lips in a thin line. Good thing the woman watching could only see the back of Elena’s head because the look on her face was that of a person who had just swallowed a bug.

  After repeated unsuccessful attempts to get her to kiss him back, he lay down, pulling her with him, and covered them with several thick furs. She tried to turn her back to him, but he pinned her in place, facing him, with his hand on her pelvis. “Relax, Elena.” He ran his hand over her perfect, bare, round ass, and he groaned.

  “Take your hands off me,” she whispered so quietly he could barely hear it.

  If only he had known she hadn’t been asleep when Aleksi had come to the cabin, he could be deep inside her now. How could he have been so careless?

  He kept his hand wrapped around her cheek, but stilled. The old woman watched them from the corner of the large covered wagon. These nomadic family groups were notoriously suspicious of outsiders. It was important he convince her they were lovers running away, which was damned hard to do if one of the lovers was rejecting the other.

  “Stop fighting me,” he whispered. “We need these people to house us for a day or so until I can teleport again. They won’t do it if they think I lied. We need their cover and trust.” And he needed Elena’s trust. He craved it even more than he craved her body.

  He slid his hand up to rest benignly at her waist, and her muscles relaxed slightly. “Just go along with me. Kiss me once to make it look like you are not here against your will.”

  “I am.”

  The old woman cleared her throat. “She doesn’t want you, eh?” she asked in Romani.

  “She does,” he assured with what he hoped was a believable grin. “She is worried about her father. And like all good women, she wants me to work for it.”

  The woman laughed. “In my day, I would have made you work for it, too.”

  She settled in as if going to bed, but left the lantern lit so she could watch them. Nikolai gritted his teeth. All it would take to set this woman’s mind at ease would be one kiss. One kiss, and they could hide among these people until he was back at full power. Fydor would never think to search for him among humans.

  He looked down into Elena’s eyes and ran his hand from her waist to her thigh and back again. “Kiss me once. That’s all it will take. A real kiss.”

  “It’s not going to happen.”

  Yes, it was. Nikolai bit the inside of his cheek, just enough to taste the coppery tang of blood. Only a drop, probably, but it might to the trick. “Then, I’ll kiss you.”

  He kept his hand on her waist and pressed his lips to hers. She remained still as death while he swept the seam of her mouth with his tongue. Then she inhaled sharply though her nose. Her lips parted and her tongue met his. Yes! Finally.

  She growled low in her throat and angled her head to deepen the kiss and then pushed him on his back. Nikolai fought for self-control as he looked into her red eyes. He wanted her and didn’t even care if they had an audience. But, being human, she would. And even that tiny bit of blood had driven her out of control, he realized as she swung her leg over him and climbed on top.

  Reaching under the parka, he clamped down on her hips to still her. The woman grinned and reached up for the light. After extinguishing it, her rustles indicated she was finally going to bed.

  He could have Elena right now, and he’d never wanted anything more in his life, but he knew that when her blood lust faded, so would her lust for him. She would regret it, and he wanted their first time together to be perfect—not a blood lust–induced quickie in front of an old Romani woman in the back of a cart. “Easy, baby,” he said. “That was sufficient to convince her.”

  His cock was straining so hard against his jeans he was sure it would bust the zipper. He had no idea she’d react this aggressively. Imagine if he had really bitten down hard, releasing more than a mere drop of blood. He grinned. That would be the plan later, after she cooled off from what Aleksi had said.

  Still straddling him, Elena’s body tensed. “You bastard.”

  “Don’t move,” he said, hands holding her immobile. “Just relax against me until she falls asleep.”

  “You did that on purpose. You slipped me a roofie!”

  He was glad he couldn’t see her face in the darkness. If it matched her tone of voice, it was deadly. “I’m sorry. I did what I had to do.”

  She climbed off him, intentionally kneeing him in the chest as she did so. Had she no self-preservation instincts at all? They could be kicked out in the cold. and she wouldn’t last through the night.

  The old woman struck a match and lit the lamp.

  “I have to pee,” Elena said. “I’m also thirsty and hungry. Just because you’re an immortal, chauvinistic badass doesn’t mean you can ignore my needs. I’m sick of this, Itzov. I’m sick of you.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Elena uncurled her aching fingers from fists when they returned to the wagon. Their little visit with Mother Nature had been less than ideal logistically, but at least Nikolai had been a gentleman about it. Maybe he knew how angry she was and didn’t want a scene in front of an audience.

  The woman shook her head when Elena tugged off one of the fur-lined boots she had loaned her. Well, at least someone gave a crap about her comfort. “Thank you,” Elena said. The woman nodded and handed her a bottle of clear liquid.

  “That’s not a good idea,” Nikolai warned.

  “Was it your idea?” Elena asked, pulling the top off the bottle.

  His brow furrowed. “No.”

  “Then it’s probably a good one.”

  He sat back against the wall of the wagon, dark eyebrow arched. “Suit yourself.”

  She took a sniff. Vodka. Good. She liked vodka. She raised the bottle to her lips and took only a small sip. It tasted nothing like what she’d had on the occasions she’d had vodka before things went all weird. Still, after the burn wore off, it left a warm trail all the way down to her stomach, and right now, after traipsing in the snow, warm was good.

  She took a larger sip and glared at Nikolai. Biting his lip had been the lowest blow ever. He’d used her weakness to manipulate her. It was mortifying to think her body snatched the steering wheel away from her and was ready to spin off for a joy ride on its own.

  She took another swallow from the bottle and closed her eyes while the warmth spread from beyond her throat into her whole body.

  She had to get away from Nikolai. Being helpless sucked beyond anything she’d ever experienced. She was not a possession. This was going to end, and it was going to end now.

  She opened her eyes and met his. An electric jolt shot straight through her at his intense gaze, zapping through her body to all those places he’d set on fire in the cabin. Shit.

  Aleksandra’s words ran through her head. “Turn her, fuck her, and get rid of her.” Like hell. She took another gulp of vodka. She’d had enough of being manipulated. It was time to turn the tables. She would be in control for once.

  The only way to be really safe was to become immortal so these assholes out to kill her would have a harder time of it. Margarita had said she didn’t have to be evil. She had a choice in the matter, just like she had a choice right now. And the choice was pretty appealing. She smiled and Nikolai smiled back.

  He took the bottle and drank from it. She watched with fascination as his Adams apple moved with each swallow. The lamplight played across his unshaven face, making his skin gold, like honey.

  She would become immortal and free herself. Her smile broadened. He tipped the bottle to her in salute and drank again.

  Freeing herself from the cord might be the be
st part of this whole deal. Two could play this manipulation game. She could do a lot worse than having to screw a hot, talented death angel to free herself, right?

  Right.

  But then what? She had to get away, and she was in the middle of nowhere. She doubted the people in this camp would help her, but there was always the snowmobile hidden in the trees.

  First things first. She’d figure out her escape once she was immortal and free from the cord. Nikolai wasn’t the only one who could make plans. And her plan had six easy steps.

  Step one: get rid of the audience. She smiled at the old woman, and her smile was returned. Elena placed a hand over her heart, and the woman nodded. Then, she jerked her head toward the back of the wagon in the universal gesture for get lost. The old woman wrapped her shoulders in a quilt and chuckled, then made her way to the back of the wagon. She said something to Nikolai before leaving, but he didn’t respond. He simply stared at Elena until her blood heated and her pulse hammered in her ears. Big, sexy brute of a man. Just his gaze made her wet.

  Step two: become immortal. This was trickier and a bit horrifying. She didn’t have the luxury of doubt, though. It had to be done, regardless of her complete and total ignorance of the process and potential discomfort involved in the transition. To be successful, she had to get him to agree to be the blood donor. She crawled over to him, blanket still tied around her waist. His eyes narrowed. “What’s going on in your mind, Elena?”

  “Your mouth is on my mind.” Her eyes fell to his lips, and she remembered how soft they were and how good he tasted. As if he were a magnet, she drew closer.

  He tilted his head, expression wary.

  “And my mouth,” she whispered, only inches away from him. “Together.”

  He held her away by the shoulders.

  “What?” she asked, enjoying the boldness brought on by the plan and assisted by the vodka. “You don’t like my plan?”